To Win Back Ken, Barbie Pledges to Stop Destroying Rainforests

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After last week’s banner-dropping stunt at Mattel headquarters by Greenpeace, deforestation concerns began dominating the discussion over at Barbie’s Facebook page. It got so bad that Mattel temporarily shut down the page to comments. Greenpeace launched its social media campaign and PR stunt on Tuesday morning, calling on Mattel to stop purchasing paper pulp harvested from the last habitat of Indonesia’s orangutans and tigers; by late Wednesday, Mattel’s response was posted front and center on the company website.

Mattel’s press release, which prompted a number of news outlets to declare victory for the Greenpeace campaign, announced that the company will be “developing a sustainable procurement policy for all of Mattel’s product lines which will address the important issue of deforestation. The policy will include requirements for packaging suppliers to commit to sustainable forestry management practices.”

Greenpeace, on the other hand, is still running its campaign, complete with a new Facebook call-to-action. The LA Times quoted Greenpeace spokesperson James Turner explaining that the group will keep the pressure on “until Mattel shows ‘due diligence’ towards a ‘zero-deforestation’ policy. Greenpeace’s China office will shortly send out an email to several million followers, he said.”

If you haven’t asked Barbie’s manufacturer to stop destroying the rainforest for glossy pink packaging, email the Mattel CEO here.